castigating Swift for his treacherous betrayal of
Steele's friendship. But his catalogue of Swift's vices is far more
intriguing than that of our clergyman, his gossip far more detailed
and malicious. Clearly, Swift could not possibly do anything to please
some of his readers. If their hostile reactions have any meaning, they
prove that Swift's political connections and high-church sympathies
prevented many of his contemporaries from responding to the virtues of
_Gulliver's Travels_; and that, on the contrary, his chief work was
tapped for evidence of the author's suspected impiety and partisan
politics.

That this hostility persisted far into the eighteenth century may be
seen in the illuminating anecdote told in the 1780's by Horace
Walpole, son of the "Great Man" so glowingly praised in the _Letter
from a Clergyman_:

Swift was a good writer, but had a bad heart. Even to the last he
was devoured by ambition, which he pretended to despise. Would
you believe that, after finding his opposition to the ministry
fruitless, and, what galled him still more, contemned, he
summoned up resolution to wait on Sir Robert Walpole? Sir Robert
seeing Swift look pale and ill, inquired the state of his health,
with his usual old English good humour and urbanity. They were
standing by a window that looked into the court-yard, where was
an ancient ivy dropping towards the ground. "Sir," said Swift,
with an emphatic look, "I am like that ivy; I want support." Sir
Robert answered, "Why then, doctor, did you attach youself to a
falling wall?" Swift took the hint, made his bow, and retired.[8]

Northern Illinois University

NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION

[1] In _The Intelligencer, No. III_ (1728), Swift defends Gay's satire
on the "Great Man," _The Beggar's Opera_ (1728), and continues his
offensive against Sir Robert Walpole. Here it may be mentioned that in
his apology for the irony used by persecuted dissenters, Anthony
Collins [_A Discourse Concerning Ridicule and Irony_ (1729)] remarks
that "High-Church" overlooked Swift's "_drolling_ upon Christianity,"
and was unwilling to punish him because of his "_Drollery_ upon the
_Whigs_, _Dissenters_, and the _War_ with _France_." Collins
interprets the effect of Swift's wit on his church career as follows:
"And his Usefulness in _Drollery_ and _Ridicule_ was deem'd sufficient
by the _Pious_ Queen _Anne_, and her _pious Mi